Receiving an update module by accessing a network site

ABSTRACT

Fault of a particular module in an electronic device is detected. In response to detecting the fault, an update module is retrieved from a network site over a network to update the particular module, where the network stack is independent of a network stack associated with an operating system in the electronic device.

BACKGROUND

An electronic device can include various modules that includemachine-readable instructions, such as a boot code (e.g. BasicInput/Output System code or Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)code), an operating system, an application, and so forth. When a modulein the electronic device exhibits a fault, the electronic device maycease to operate properly.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Some embodiments are described with respect to the following figures:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an electronic device that incorporates someimplementations;

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of a module recovery process, in accordancewith some implementations; and

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an electronic device according to furtherimplementations.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A module (including machine-readable instructions) in an electronicdevice can exhibit a fault due to various causes. In some examples, thefault can be due to corruption caused by malware (e.g. virus or othertype of malicious code). A fault can also be caused by corruption invarious data structures used by the module. There can be other causes offaults in a module.

Example modules in an electronic device can include any one or acombination of the following: a boot code (e.g. Basic Input/OutputSystem (BIOS) code or Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)code), an operating system, a device driver, an application, and soforth, Note that UEFI code is provided as a replacement for traditionalBIOS code. In the ensuing discussion, reference to “BIOS code” isintended to refer to either traditional BIOS code or UEFI code. A faultin a module of the electronic device can cause malfunction of theelectronic device, or may lead to reduced performance of the electronicdevice. For example, if the boot code or operating system of theelectronic device were to crash, then the electronic device may nolonger be useable, since the electronic device would not be able tostart properly. As another example, if a device driver were to exhibit afault, then access to a corresponding hardware device of the electronicdevice may no longer be possible. Failure of an application may lead toan inability of the user to use the application for performing desiredtasks.

In response to a fault of a module, a user may attempt to update thefaulty module (by either replacing the module or repairing the module)using an update module (update code) provided on a storage medium suchas a hard disk drive, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) storage medium, orother removable medium. However, in cases where a storage medium thathas an update module is not readily available, it can be difficult forthe user to recover the faulty module.

In accordance with some implementations, rather than having to restore afaulty module using code on a storage medium, a preboot network stack ofthe electronic device can be used for retrieving, over a network, anupdate module for recovering the faulty module. The preboot networkstack can be part of a management subsystem, where the preboot networkstack is independent of a network stack that is associated with anoperating system of the electronic device. A “network stack” can includenetwork communication layers that allow communications over a network. Anetwork can be a wired network, a wireless network, or a combination ofwired and wireless networks.

Using the preboot network stack, retrieval of an update module can beperformed in a preboot context of the electronic device. A prebootcontext refers to a state of the electronic device prior to completionof a boot procedure and prior to loading of an operating system. Theboot procedure of an electronic device involves executing boot code(e.g. BIOS code), and loading the operating system of the electronicdevice. By being able to use the preboot network stack to retrieve anupdate module, the ability to recover a faulty module does not have torely on proper operation of boot code or an operating system in theelectronic device.

Although reference is made to a “preboot network stack,” it is notedthat such network stack, which is independent of the operatingsystem-associated network stack, can also be used to performcommunication (including communication to retrieve an update module)after booting of the electronic device has completed and the operatingsystem has been loaded. Thus, a preboot network stack refers to anetwork stack that is capable of operating both in the preboot contextand after successful booting of the electronic device and loading of theoperating system.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example electronic device 100 thatincludes a fault manager 102, an operating system (OS) 104, and anetwork stack 106 that is associated with the OS 104. In the ensuingdiscussion, the network stack 106 is referred to as an “OS-associatednetwork stack”. Although the network stack 106 is depicted as beingoutside of the OS 104, it is noted that the network stack 106 can beconsidered to be part of the OS 104 in some implementations.

The electronic device 100 further includes a management subsystem 108,which has another network stack 110 that is independent of theOS-associated network stack 106. This network stack 110 can be referredto as a preboot network stack as discussed above.

The management subsystem 108 is used for performing various managementtasks with respect to the electronic device 100. By using the networkstack 110 that is independent of the OS-associated network stack 106,the management subsystem 108 can perform its management tasks usingout-of-band network connectivity. If the network connectivity associatedwith the OS 104 (using the OS-associated network stack 106) isconsidered the in-band network connectivity (in other words, thisnetwork connectivity is used for performing the normal operations of theelectronic device that involve network communications), then theout-of-band network connectivity refers to a separate connectivity thatcan be maintained without involving the OS-associated network stack 106.

As further depicted in FIG. 1, the electronic device 100 includes aphysical network interface 112, which can be a network interface card orsome other type of physical network interface. Both the network stack106 and network stack 110 can communicate through the physical networkinterface 112 over a network 114. Although just one physical networkinterface is depicted in FIG. 1, note that in alternative examples,multiple physical network interfaces can be present.

Examples of various management tasks that can be performed using themanagement subsystem 108 can include any one or combination of thefollowing: transmitting information of the electronic device 100 inresponse to a query from a remote management server, downloading ofmalware signatures from the remote management server, power cycling theelectronic device in response to a request from the remote managementserver, performing tasks to quarantine the electronic device upondetection of infection by viruses or other malware, and so forth.

In accordance with some implementations, the management subsystem 108(and in particular the network stack 110 in the management subsystem108) can also be used by the fault manager 102 for the purpose ofobtaining an update module 118 from a remote network site 116 (whichincludes a server computer) for updating (or recovering) a faulty modulein the electronic device 100. Updating (or recovering) a faulty modulecan refer to replacing or repairing the faulty module using the updatemodule.

The fault manager 102 can detect a fault of a module (such as the OS 104or some other module in the electronic device 100). In response todetecting the fault, the fault manager 102 can use the network stack 110of the management subsystem 108 to access, over the network 114, theremote network site 116, for retrieving the update module 118 at thenetwork site 116. The retrieved update module 118 can be used forrecovering the faulty module in the electronic device 100.

The ability of the management subsystem 108 to perform networkcommunications using its network stack 110 (which is independent of theOS-associated network stack 106), allows retrieval of the update module118 over the network 114 even if the electronic device 100 cannot bootproperly. In fact, the faulty module to be recovered can be the OS 104or boot code.

The network stack 110 of the management subsystem 108 also providesgreater flexibility since the network stack 110 does not have to relyupon use of a specific remote boot protocol, such as the PrebootExecution Environment (PXE) protocol. PXE communications can berestricted to communications between PXE clients and PXE servers withina secure network, such as a private network of an enterprise (e.g.business concern, educational organization, government agency, etc.).

In contrast, the network stack 110 of the management subsystem 108supports communications in a greater variety of environments for thepurpose of retrieving the update module 118 at the network site 116. Thegreater variety of environments can include an enterprise environmentand a public environment (such as the world wide web).

The electronic device 100 further includes a processor (or multipleprocessors) 118, and a storage medium (or storage media) 120. The faultmanager 102 and OS 104 are executable on the processor(s) 118. Althoughnot shown, other modules in the electronic device 100 can also beexecutable on the processor(s) 118.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of a module recovery process 200 according tosome implementations. The process 200 can be performed by the faultmanager 102, in some examples. The process 200 detects (at 202) a faultof a particular module in the electronic device 100. In someimplementations, the detection of the fault can be performed within theelectronic device 100 without input from any remote server. For example,the fault manager 102 can start a timer whenever the particular moduleis started—failure of the particular module to complete loading andexecution within a predefined time interval of the timer is anindication of fault of the particular module, In other examples, afaulty module can issue an exception or other message that is receivedby the fault manager 102. Using techniques according to someimplementations, remote server involvement does not have to be employedfor performing fault detection of the particular module.

In response to detecting the fault, the process 200 accesses (at 204)the network site 116 using network communication through the networkstack 110 of the management subsystem 108, which is independent of theOS-associated network stack 106. The access of the network site 116using the network stack 110 of the management subsystem 108 can beperformed in the preboot context. In response to the access, the process200 receives (at 206) the update module 118 from the network site 116,which can be used to update the faulty particular module. Updating thefaulty particular module includes replacing the particular module and/orrepairing the particular module.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an electronic device 100′ according toalternative implementations. Components in the electronic device 100′that are the same as components of the electronic device 100 areassigned the same reference numerals.

The electronic device 100′ includes a management engine 302, which canbe implemented as an integrated circuit controller chip, such as anapplication specific integrated circuit (ASIC) chip, programmable gatearray (PGA) chip, microcontroller, microprocessor, and so forth. Themanagement engine 302 is an implementation of the management subsystem108 of FIG. 1.

An application programming interface (API) 304, or some other type ofinterface, is provided to allow the fault manager 102 to access servicesof the management engine 302. In accordance with some implementations, aservice that can be accessed by the fault manager 102 using the API 304is the out-of-band network connectivity (including the network stack110) supported by the management engine 302, which allows the faultmanager 102 to retrieve an update module (e.g. 118 in FIG. 1) from theremote network site 116 without having to rely on the OS-associatednetwork stack 106. The API 304 includes various functions or routinesthat can be called by the fault manager 102 for accessing the servicesof the management engine 302.

In FIG. 3, the network stack 110 in the management engine 302 has aHypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) layer 306, which allows themanagement engine 302 to perform HTTP communications over a network,such as the network 114 of FIG. 1. HTTP defines various requests andresponses that can be communicated by the HTTP layer 306. The HTTPrequests can be used for obtaining information (such as the updatemodule 118 in FIG. 1) from a network entity (such as a server computerat the network site 116). In other examples, instead of using HTTP, thenetwork stack 110 can include a component according to another protocolfor managing request-response communications (or other types ofcommunications) over a network,

The network stack 110 further includes a Transmission ControlProtocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) stack 308, which has a TCP layer andan IP layer. An IP layer is used to communicate IP packets that havesource and destination IP addresses to allow for the packets to berouted through a network to a destination. The TCP layer provides forreliable, ordered delivery of data between network entities.

It is noted that the OS-associated network stack 106 can include similarlayers as the network stack 110 in the management engine 302.

The electronic device 100′ also includes a non-volatile memory 310, suchas flash memory or other type of memory. The non-volatile memory 310 canbe used to store BIOS code 312 and management engine code 314. The BIOScode 312 can be considered firmware (which includes machine-readableinstructions) that is executable by the processor(s) 118 of theelectronic device 100′, such as to perform boot tasks. In some examples,the fault manager 102 can be part of the BIOS code 312. In otherexamples, the fault manager 102 is separate from the BIOS code 312.

The management engine code 314 can also be considered firmware that isexecutable in the management engine 302. The management engine code 314can provide various services that are offered by the management engine302, such as services relating to management tasks that are performed bythe management engine 302. In other examples, the management engine code314 can be embedded in a non-volatile storage medium that is part of themanagement engine 302.

Machine-readable instructions of various modules described above(including the fault manager 102, OS 104, application 316, BIOS code312, and management engine code 314 of FIG. 1 or 3) are loaded forexecution on a processing circuit (such as the processor(s) 118 ormanagement engine 102 in FIG. 1 or 3).

Data and instructions are stored in respective storage devices, whichare implemented as one or more computer-readable or machine-readablestorage media. The storage media include different forms of memoryincluding semiconductor memory devices such as dynamic or static randomaccess memories (DRAMs or SRAMs), erasable and programmable read-onlymemories (EPROMs), electrically erasable and programmable read-onlymemories (EEPROMs) and flash memories; magnetic disks such as fixed,floppy and removable disks; other magnetic media including tape; opticalmedia such as compact disks (CDs) or digital video disks (DVDs); orother types of storage devices. Note that the instructions discussedabove can be provided on one computer-readable or machine-readablestorage medium, or alternatively, can be provided on multiplecomputer-readable or machine-readable storage media distributed in alarge system having possibly plural nodes. Such computer-readable ormachine-readable storage medium or media is (are) considered to be partof an article (or article of manufacture). An article or article ofmanufacture can refer to any manufactured single component or multiplecomponents. The storage medium or media can be located either in themachine running the machine-readable instructions, or located at aremote site from which machine-readable instructions can be downloadedover a network for execution.

In the foregoing description, numerous details are set forth to providean understanding of the subject disclosed herein. However,implementations may be practiced without some or all of these details.Other implementations may include modifications and variations from thedetails discussed above. it is intended that the appended dams coversuch modifications and variations.

What is claimed is:
 1. An electronic device comprising: an operatingsystem; a first network stack associated with the operating system; amanagement subsystem having a second network stack that is independentof the first network stack, the management subsystem to perform amanagement task using network communication through the second networkstack; a fault manager to: detect fault of a particular module in theelectronic device, in response to detecting the fault, access a networksite using network communication through the second network stack in apreboot context, and in response to the access, receive an update moduleto update the particular module.
 2. The electronic device of claim 1,wherein the fault manager is to perform the detecting of the faultwithout input from any remote server.
 3. The electronic device of claim1, wherein the particular module includes code of the operating system.4. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the particular moduleincludes boot code.
 5. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein theparticular module includes application code or a device driver.
 6. Theelectronic device of claim 1, wherein the management subsystem includesa controller chip that has the second network stack.
 7. The electronicdevice of claim 1, wherein the second network stack has an InternetProtocol (IP) layer and Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) layer, theIP and TOP layers to perform the network communication to retrieve theupdate module.
 8. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the networkstack further includes a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) layer toperform the network communication to retrieve the update module.
 9. Theelectronic device of claim 1, further comprising an applicationprogramming interface to allow the fault manager to access the secondnetwork stack.
 10. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the faultmanager is part of a Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) code.
 11. A methodcomprising: detecting, by a fault manager in an electronic device, faultof a particular module, wherein the detecting is performed without inputfrom any remote server; and in response to detecting the fault, retrievean update module for updating the particular module, using a prebootnetwork stack that is independent of a second network stack associatedwith an operating system in the electronic device, wherein the updatemodule is retrieved from a network site over a network.
 12. The methodof claim 11, wherein retrieving the update module using the prebootnetwork stack comprises performing network communication over thenetwork in a preboot context, the preboot context including a context ofthe electronic device prior to completion of a boot procedure of theelectronic device.
 13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:updating the particular module using the update module, wherein theupdating includes replacing or repairing the particular module using theupdate module.
 14. The method of claim 11, wherein the particular moduleis selected from among boot code and code of an operating system.
 15. Anarticle comprising at least one machine-readable storage medium storinginstructions that upon execution cause an electronic device to: detect,by a fault manager, fault of a particular module; and in response todetecting the fault, retrieve an update module for updating theparticular module, using a network stack of a management subsystem, thenetwork stack of the management subsystem being independent of a secondnetwork stack that is associated with an operating system in theelectronic device, wherein the update module is retrieved from a networksite over a network in a preboot context.